Calling All the Monsters
by Claws McDonald
Summary: Everybody's worst nightmares from childhood are returning in their dreams, and soon they will become real. Does Dr. Cockroach have anything to do in this? How will the monsters fight against something so fearful as your worst nightmare?
1. Time to Play

**A/N: Hello there. For anyone who read my story 'Like Mother Like Son', you won't find it here for sometime. I am writing it and won't publish it until it is finished. Not completely no, just two chapters by two chapters.**

**Anyways, new story. And this is for halloween, yeah babe! Though I might not finished it until mid-November x3. Inspiration came after listening to 'Calling All the Monsters' by China Anne McClain. I never thoguth songs like that could bring me inspiration but =shrug= inpiration comes from anywhere right guys?**

**Enjoy, review, favourite and please no flames. :D**

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><p>Her heart rate was going right through the skies. Her breathing was heavy and the sweat on her brow made it difficult to look around. She had been running for what seemed to be hours now, trying to get away from something that was chasing her. The problem was she didn't know what was after her. She only knew she had to run from it and not look back. She made a sharp turn to the right so she could catch her breath and get the sweat from her face off.<p>

Susan was a complete mess comparing her to other days; her hair was tangled and greasy with the sweat from her running, her clothes were sweaty as well as torn in some parts, and her face was full of dirt. She had not the slightest idea of how she came to be like that, maybe from the running through the forest and the four times she had slept in the swamp, but she didn't remember it at all. In fact, she had no idea why she was running in a giant doll house mansion. She only knew she had to.

_You will never escape me, dear._

Susan's heart stopped. _That voice _she thought _I know that voice. It can't be. It can't possibly be._

Susan looked around the corner and caught a blur of blue and white. She hid again and tried to calm her breathing which was fast, almost wheezing from the dust that was in the pink and red walls.

_I know where you are Susie-Q. You can't hide from me._

Susan closed her eyes and wished she was only dreaming.

_Oh but dear, you are dreaming. Only that the fear is in the only place you can't escape…_

Susan felt someone get close to her ear. The surface of this being felt burned and somewhat fluffy.

…_your mind._

Without closing her eyes, fighting the will to open them and reveal the appearance of the being she already knew who was, she asked silently "Who are you?"

_Your best friend forever._

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><p>Susan woke up with a scream and rolled off her bed, almost turning it to the side with her. She looked around and found herself in her room in the facility. She took deep breaths to calm down and after some moment she stood up.<p>

The door to her room opened so suddenly that she almost fell to the cold metal floor again.

"My dear, are you all right? I heard you scream and the first thing I thought was that the giant spider escaped of her dome." It was Dr. Cockroach, of course. Always the first one to come to her room whenever something happened. She considered him a type of father figure to her.

"Nothing doctor, just a small night—wait a minute giant spider?"

"Erm…I…um…thought you already…so it was just a nightmare right?" Dr. Cockroach said quickly fiddling with his red robe and changing the subject quickly before Susan could freak out and kill the spider with her giant shoes.

Susan looked at him with a raised eyebrow but decided to question him later. She nodded to answer his question. "Yes, a really weird nightmare. I don't even know what was going on."

"Mmm…nightmares in this month. Kind of suspicious seeing that Halloween is in just 2 weeks."

"What do you mean by nightmares in this month? Who else is having them?"

"Well, some of the staff has been having nightmares too. They also describe them as 'not knowing what is going on'. Link told me that he had one about 3 days ago—please don't tell him I told you or he will turn me into fly food—and B.O.B. told me something about some carrots attacking his mother…"

"I see. You haven't had any doctor?"

"Not since I was new in the facility. I pray to God not to have any, as I judge from you they seem to be horrible nightmares. You don't remember anything, do you dear?" Dr. Cockroach climbed on Susan's bed and patted the bed to tell her to sit down.

"Well, I remember that I was running…from something, someone maybe. And that this person…this being…wanted something from me." Susan said as she sat crossed leg on the bed facing the doctor.

"Gallaxhar?" Dr. Cockroach suggested quickly.

Susan shook her head. "I don't think so; it wanted something that it wasn't material. It wanted me completely. Only me."

"Well dear, I think we can get to a better conclusion in the morning. It is very late and people around are trying to sleep, right Link?" Dr. Cockroach asked loudly and he could see the small gape of 2 inches from Link's room closing down quickly. Susan gave a small chuckle and Doctor Cockroach smirked.

"Good night doctor, have a good sleep." Susan said as the half-cockroach scientist started to exit her room.

"Good night Susan, don't let those nightmares take over. If you have to wake up, just pinch yourself whenever you think the nightmare should stop."

"I will, thanks for the recommendation Doc."

Doctor Cockroach smiled and started to close the door from outside.

Susan suddenly remembered something.

"Doc, I do remember something important from my nightmare."

The giant metal door stopped descending and a gape of about 2 feet was left.

"What is it? The way this being looked? Something important it told you?"

"As a matter of fact yes. I was pressed to a wall…and I asked it who it was…and answered 'your best friend forever'. Is this something of importance? Doc? Doctor Cockroach?"

Doctor Cockroach didn't answer. He gulped and tried to keep his heart rate steady. All he could say was: "It is of importance but don't worry dear. Nothing to worry about."

The gape that was left closed quickly, almost with the same force when Susan stomps on something. Why was Doctor Cockroach so nervous after Susan told him that little insignificant bit of information? Was it of importance but he didn't want her to know?

Susan had a lot of questions forming one after another inside her head, but she got rid of them before they started to confuse her more than she was already.

That night, she didn't sleep at all. Mostly because of the nightmare that was tormenting her. She was covered in a sheet of cold sweat every time she woke up from her haunting nightmare. She would pinch herself whenever she was too afraid to stay in her subconscious, but she just wouldn't wake up. Not until the same voice and being appeared in front of her and told her the same exact words.

_I am your best friend forever._


	2. The Madman

**A/N: Hello there you little monsters. You are so very lucky you fartheads (You know I love you too) because I updated just on time for Halloween. :D I wish anyone who goes trick-or-treating a great Halloween. Also to those who didn't go trick-or-treating.**

**Anyways, I might update more often because this story is making me get so many ideas! Hooray more updates from lazy turd Claws!**

**Enjoy. :]**

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><p><span>Chapter 2: The Madman<span>

Dr. Cockroach was working like crazy in his room, taking out old invention diagrams and trying to put them together in chronological order. Whilst he did this, he talked in a low voice to himself, whispering things like 'where have they gone' or 'how was that possible'. He paced up and down in his room, the dim light from his desk lamp flickering here and there predicting that the light bulb was going to black out at any second.

_What went wrong that night? Was there a wrong calculation I made?_

The flickering light bulb flicked faster and faster, maybe the same rate Doctor Cockroach began to lose his patience.

His mind raced with tangled thoughts, not able to organize themselves. He wanted to scream out to the skies so he could let all the stress out. He wanted to destroy, to thrash and throw.

And that's what he did.

He screamed and thrashed all he had in his room. He flipped over the desk and ripped out all the sketches of machines he had, he punched at the walls until his knuckles were numb and hurt a lot. He seemed to be a madman, all he thought he was going to become.

His environment suddenly changed and he saw his friends, knocked out on the floor, all beaten up, even B.O.B. who was purple instead of his happy blue color.

_What is this? Where am I? _A part of his brain asked while the other one only thought of ripping in pieces the people in front of him.

_You are where only fear is far worse than you can think of. _Someone that could not be seen said.

Doctor Cockroach looked all around him, not able to find the person who that voice belonged to.

An evil chuckle sounded all around, and he could see all his loved friends stacked up in a pile. The scene was difficult to see but he just couldn't turn around, something forced him to stay there bounded to the ground. All of them were there, B.O.B., Link, Susan, Insecto and Monger, their eyes wide open but their looks were vacant, staring at something that wasn't there, endless as the universe but as empty as a hole.

The only sight of it could have driven him mad, if it wasn't a coincidence that he already was. He looked around again and saw his own reflection on a mirror. But the only thing that was sticking out of the picture was that this wasn't him. This creature had torn clothes and was filthy; its eyes were mad and yet he looked scared; his posture was that of a hunchback and his mouth was full of foam.

Doctor Cockroach cried out horrified, he took the mirror from its place and tossed it against the floor. It broke in thousands of pieces that went for his face, but when they were only a few inches from its target he met the cold metal surface of his room floor.

He looked around whilst he stood up and rubbed the sore spot where his face had landed. His desk was full of the papers he had been gathering of his old inventions; the light bulb of his lamp was no longer flickering and the robe he was wearing was complete and with no scratches anywhere.

The only difference about our dear Doctor was that he was covered in a slight coat of cold sweat. His heart rate still a bit fast in pace and his legs shivering from the sudden nightmare he had.

He continued his pacing; trying to cling to reality and understand what was going on. His mind racing back to his last experiment, one that wasn't successful and he wasn't so proud of it himself. One that maybe had the answer to this puzzle only he knew about.

But he just couldn't fit the pieces together, like when you finally find the piece from your puzzle but it isn't the one for the right space or for the right time. That's what it felt like for Doctor Cockroach.

A long debate was going through his mind at the time, too. He was no longer sure if he should tell his friends and comrades about what he had done months ago and was starting to get bad results or he should keep it to himself and tell it in the right time to Monger. He no longer knew what to do.

He decided to leave it for later and go get some rest, until he remembered that his most feared nightmare could be haunting him that night. That had been what he had seen and had felt so real. A nightmare that haunted him since he started to do his silly experiments. Something that haunted him more than the Reaper itself.

He decided not to sleep that night and explain everything the next morning to his friends and Monger, even if it would cost him his job and maybe his sanity to do it.

But that night the nightmare wouldn't go away, even if he was still awake. Doctor Cockroach did everything he could to keep himself awake even if he was already tired as hell. He had drunk his third cup of coffee when he thought he had seen a shadow slither itself towards his bed; he had done his seventy-seventh push-up when he heard a voice call his name from outside his room; and he had been tracing small robots in an old blue-print when he finally had lost it.

He wanted to go away but the doors would disappear when he got too close to them, and the space became more and more smaller every second, that until he hit the floor again.

He wrapped himself in a small ball in his bed and decided to guard his room with a torch and his zoology book.

"Have I gone mad beyond my own mind?" He asked silently into the night, and he could have sworn something had answered him with the most feared word for a response.

_Yes._

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><p><strong>Have I confused you already? Then my job is done here.<strong>

**Question guys: How do you like to celebrate Halloween?**


	3. The Mysterious General

**A/N: Hello young padawans. I have brought to you another chapter. I would have uploaded it like a week ago but it needed to be rechecked and because I am grounded for a month without being able to get into my usual websites -.- Anyways, thanks to all who have put this in alert, favourite and who have reviewed.**

** Not many things going on in this here chapter but =shrug= I am just writing away what my mind is bringing to me. Gonna get better in the next chapter I promised. :D**

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><p><span>Chapter 3: The Mysterious General<span>

The next day, the facility was buzzing with people ready to work. Some still sleepy from their night round and some already prepared for what was coming of paperwork. The scent of coffee and donuts was still in General Monger's office, where he had slept over a pile of papers the night before, and his 'coffee boy', red-head young Soldier Kyle Smith, had left his still warm donut box and coffee before he could wake up and be in a cranky mood.

General Monger stirred slowly to life as he had always done in past nights when he had been just another commander with a huge sheaf of papers on top of his desk. Unfortunately he was still doing the same years later, but he now had coffee and donuts. Monger looked around whilst he took a donut from the place he knew they were and decided to finish his paperwork later.

He stood up from his desk and took his coffee cup in a hand that was slightly shaking. When he took a sip from it, he almost dropped a few drops of coffee into one of his unsigned papers, not only because of his shaking hand, but because the coffee was already cold and tasted awfully, he could care less anyway. His forehead was covered in a thin blanket of cold sweat, he seemed to be a bit paler then he usually was and the front of his uniform was slightly wet as well as the papers he had been sleeping on. Nightmares had been in another person's dream as it seemed. Only that the general had been in dreamland as stern and strong as he was in dreamland because he had tried to fight back against his nightmare only that this one was something he actually didn't want to fight back.

A series of knocks on his door brought him back from his thoughts. He cleared his throat and uttered a hoarse 'come in', but Soldier Smith was already in before he could even finish saying it.

"Sir, it's an emergency. We need you. Dr. Cockroach, we can't help him. He won't come out. He keeps talking about nightmares and monsters and a machine and-and-and…"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! Slow down son!" Monger moved his right hand about, without letting go of his donut. "I don't want to hear a tongue going a thousand miles an hour at this time in the morning".

"Um…sir, it's about midday". Soldier Smith said, fiddling with his thumbs behind his back.

"It's morning somewhere else, right? Now, what about Dr. Cockroach?" Monger asked, taking a big sip from his coffee and looking intently at the blonde Soldier in front of him.

Thomas Smith took a deep breath and told him what he was told to report him. "He didn't present himself for breakfast. He won't come out of his cell. He keeps talking about monsters and nightmares and a machine. He keeps asking if anyone has seen a white and blue figure. Not even his monster friends know what is going through his mind".

General Monger scratched his chin thoughtfully. What was Dr. Cockroach talking about? He sure as hell had no idea. He was talking about monsters and nightmares. Well, he had a bit of a nightmare last night, the Missing Link had said something about a nightmare a week ago, and B.O.B. had said something about carrots…maybe he had just been hungry.

"Anything else I should be known about, Thomas?" Monger asked, eyeing his own donut with a furrowed brow.

Thomas looked somewhat creeped out by Monger's attitude but decided to shrug it off, after all he was his superior. "Well, the security cameras in Ginormica's room activated last night. Nothing important to worry about. She had a bad dream that was all".

"Have you had any bad dreams Thomas?" Monger asked out of the blue, still eyeing his own donut.

Thomas blinked rapidly and took a small step closer to the General "Pardon me sir? Bad dreams?"

"Yes my boy, bad dreams. What every night fears every night. When they tell ya the boogey man will come out of your closet and-what you laughing about?-it will eat you if you don't go to sleep. When they tell ya that a witch might get through your window into your bedroom if you sleep until midnight. Haven't you had any like that before? When you were a small kid? When you weren't in the army nor even cared about what happened in the government?" General Monger had walked to his desk and put his donut back in the box.

Thomas was dumfounded by what the general had told asked him. _Bad dream? What is he talking about now? _The General could almost read his mind, for he then said "Nightmares I mean. Everything that a kid and a man fear in their lives. They take you, make you fear them, make you want to run away, but you can't".

"Sorry sir" Soldier Smith said "but I have had none in the last 4 years. I no longer know if I fear something in this life". He stood tall yet he was nervous for the answer he could get. But Monger turned around with a grin on his face, he had the box of donuts in his hands, all of them were there, even the one he had been staring at was there, uneaten and complete.

"All right, enough of this 'Meaning of Life' conversation. Time to work has come again, and if you don't, then I will surely make them take a day from your salary. And please take back these donuts to the cafeteria, I prefer to buy them myself in a decent store, I don't trust that woman from the cafeteria anymore." Monger seemed to be on a good mood, only that the bags under his eyes demonstrated another thing.

He was tired, even young not-so-intelligent Soldier Thomas Smith could see that. And his eyes also showed something that General Monger didn't showed often in front of anyone.

It was fear.

Fear for his nightmares.

"That Kyle Smith, he is your brother right?" Monger asked casually, sipping from his awfully tasting coffee cup.

Thomas smiled sheepishly "Well…yes sir, he is. I believe he brings you your coffee and donuts every day, right?"

"He does actually. But I might as well let him be and take that activity off his shoulders. Donuts are bad for me anyways. And going myself to do some coffee wouldn't be such a difficult task. But enough of this time losing talks, we have work to do. And I have to know what is wrong with that mad scientist". And with that, General Monger went out the door, but not before saying to Thomas one last thing.

"And son, be close to your brother. You two shouldn't be separated for so long. Have a nice day".

And he disappeared, leaving a confused Soldier inside his office.


End file.
